Minister for Agriculture N. Cheluvarayaswamy said a decision on conducting trial blasts in the vicinity of KRS reservoir will be taken after consulting with Advocate General of the State.
Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy, who held a meeting with officials in Mandya in this regard on Thursday, said the decision to hold trial blasts in the vicinity of KRS reservoir was not taken either by the Mandya district administration or the State government, but on account of directions by the court.
He said a technical report had made it clear that there was no threat to the reservoir from the trial blasts.
While the High Court has ordered a ban on all types of quarrying and mining activities within a radius of 20 km from KRS reservoir in Srirangapatna taluk, the farmers are wary that the radius may be reduced by the authorities after holding trial blasts.
Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy’s meeting with officials on the issue of trial blasts comes close on the heels of a farmers’ protest in KRS reservoir on the arrival of a team of experts from Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) in Dhanbad to prepare the ground for the trial blasts at a site near Bebi hills in Pandavapura taluk.
The farmers’ representatives, who held talks with officials of the Irrigation Department and the experts from Dhanbad, claimed that the authorities were unable to produce a copy of the High Court directions on holding the trial blasts.
Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) leader Badagalapura Nagendra claimed that any move by the district administration to conduct trial blasts will be violative of the High Court order that has banned all forms of quarrying and mining activity within a radius of 20 km of KRS reservoir in view of the threat to safety of the dam.
Mr. Nagendra claimed that the expert team from CIMFR had returned without holding the trial blasts in view of the absence of clarification in this regard. He also claimed that the trial blasts may only be an excuse for the district administration to build a case that the blasts do not pose any threat to the reservoir and thereby remove the restrictions on mining currently in place.
It may be mentioned here that a team of experts from CIMFR in Dhanbad, Jharkand, had to return without conducting trial blasts in the vicinity of KRS reservoir in view of protests from the farmers.
